Sanford interview with Summerville high school press scrapped

SUMMERVILLE -- An interview with Gov. Mark Sanford would have been the highlight of a high school broadcast student's career.

But Summerville High senior Shannon Graves didn't get that chance Tuesday.

Sanford had agreed to a short visit at the high school to meet with students who work on the school newspaper and TV show. But Dorchester District 2 officials thought the governor's presence would be disruptive to the overcrowded high school, said spokeswoman Pat Raynor.

"With the governor comes an entourage," she said.

Graves said she thinks the district was reluctant to have the governor come to the high school because administrators were getting a lot of backlash from refusing last week to air President Barack Obama's speech to students. Raynor denied that allegation.

Raynor said a district employee asked someone in the governor's office Friday if the meeting with students could be moved to an off-campus location. The employee was told that the governor's schedule had filled up and he could no longer make the Summerville High stop, she said.

Sanford spokesman Ben Fox said the governor will meet with the students in the future. But his schedule Tuesday was so tight that it couldn't tolerate any last minute changes, such as a change in venue, he said.

Read more in tomorrow's editions of The Post and Courier.